Ceremony in La Spezia: Patents awarded to the new Navy commandos, Crosetto “proud of their sacrifice and dedication”

In La Spezia, the Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto presided over the ceremony for the delivery of the patents and the green beret to the new commandos of the 75th ordinary course of the Navy, celebrating the excellence and sacrifice of the Special Forces.

The Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto, participated Yesterday, January 24, 2025 in La Spezia, at the ceremony for the delivery of the Incursore patents to the students of the 75th ordinary course of the NavyThe ceremony was held at the Teseo Tesei Divers and Raiders Group Command (COMSUBIN). 

"I wanted to be here to bring my personal form of esteem, affection and respect to the young soldiers who today are taking an important and crucial step in their lives. I have come to pay my respectful homage to you, young and courageous men, who animate this place so important and rich in history and love for the Homeland and to all your "grandfathers" and fathers who animated it in previous decades. The Special Forces are the spearhead of the Armed Forces. They are, you are, a body of excellence. Standing here, in front of you, a famous passage from Henry V by William Shakespeare came to mind. A very famous passage in the English homeland, less so in ours. Well, that passage tells of when King Henry V addressed the few Englishmen who were about to face an enormous number of enemies (then, in that case, they were the French soldiers), a few minutes before the battle of San Crispino. The King addresses them and says: 'we few, we happy few, we band of brothers'. “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers”. And he remembers and underlines: “When, in England, the people who are not here today, fighting with us, think back to this day and come across one of us, survivors of this battle, they will have to lower their gaze: because we were there, we were here to defend our homeland and they were not there”. Here, net of the rhetoric both poetic and war, daughter of other times and other events, I want to tell you, moved and proud of you, that I think the same thing. Thinking of your number, thinking of the fact that you are few, this quote came to mind. Not for a show of rhetoric, but because it represents the pride of what, every day, you do, in silence, with self-denial and a spirit of sacrifice. Qualities that you carry in your heart, and that I am here, today, to honor, because you are and represent the pride of serving a Nation, Italy, the pride of doing it even when you are few. The pride of serving your country, our country, with a spirit of extreme dedication and maximum sacrifice. This – ours, yours – is a family, that of Defense, that requires a lot, in terms of personal sacrifice, but that knows how to give a lot. To you and to this I bow, in the name of the Italian Republic, in the name of our Constitution, in the name of the Institution of Defense. Because this is the spirit that governs a Nation, every Nation: that of sacrifice, of dignity, of pride, of awareness of the service that you render, every day, to the Country and to your oath. You represent all of this. For this I thank you, for this I am here and I am honored to be here”. This is what the Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto, commented during the delivery of the patents to the new Navy raiders.

The ceremony was attended by the State Secretary for Defense, Matteo Perego of Cremnago, the Chief of Defense Staff, General Luciano Portolano, the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Enrico Credendino, numerous political and military authorities.

The new raiders received the coveted “green beret” and thus they became part of the Navy Special Forces, crucial and necessary professionalism to contribute to the security of strategic areas and national interests in the context of the underwater dimension.